US Envoys Say Putin Open to Europe Joining Ukraine Peace Talks After Moscow Meeting

US presidential envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff said Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to give European participation in Ukraine peace negotiations a try, following talks in Moscow before they flew to Dublin to brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Kushner said a peace deal cannot be concluded “without the Europeans being at the table,” and that progress had been made with Putin on the issue.

Witkoff said European representatives would join the next round of negotiations, adding: “They’re our partners, and it’s important for them to be involved”.

The envoys met Putin in the Kremlin on Thursday before traveling to the Irish capital, where Zelensky was attending the ninth European Political Community summit.

Witkoff described the Moscow talks as productive: “I think progress was made. People didn’t think that we were going to restart trilateral talks. We’ve restarted it. We’ve set a new meeting”.

Zelensky welcomed the prospect of European participation, saying European countries should have a voice in talks concerning the continent’s security.

“It’s important that, next time, at the next meeting, the Europeans are at the negotiations, are in the negotiating team—not on the sidelines, not separately, but have a say. This is important for us because the war is taking place in Europe,” he said.

Following his meeting with the US envoys, Zelensky said agreement had been reached on what would be the largest prisoner-of-war exchange between Russia and Ukraine since the conflict began. Kushner said arrangements had been made for an exchange involving “thousands” of prisoners.

The diplomatic push followed two days of trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi that ended without a breakthrough on major issues, including territory, though a prisoner exchange was agreed.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz played down the urgency of appointing a European representative, stressing the need for a common European position first.